Jessica Blake
July 29, 2026
The rule—which proportionally limits how much a student can borrow based on how many credit hours they take—seems simple. But aid officers say it’s quite complicated and warn that ED hasn’t released enough guidance.
In recent weeks, the term “loan limits” has been used mainly to refer to the new, highly contested caps on how much graduate students can borrow. But the cap on master’s degree spending isn’t the only loan limit taking effect this fall.
Under the same set of regulations, the Education Department now requires colleges to base the amount of federal funding they give a student on the number of credit hours they’re enrolled in—no matter what degree the student pursues.
So if a college says undergraduates pursuing a Bachelor of Science must enroll in 24 credit hours over the course of a year to be considered full-time, then an eligible freshman must meet that standard to receive the full $5,500